Fennel Salad and a Joseph Joseph Dial Giveaway #74

I am an inveterate bunger of foods in the fridge and freezer without recording either the date or the contents. This means I am constantly baffled as to what I’ve stored and when it should be eaten by. With their datable lids, these new Joseph Joseph Dial storage containers put an end to at least one of these problems. I christened one with the leftovers of this crisp and delicious fennel salad. The date I put it in the fridge was 3 April 2016, so there.

This five-piece BPA free plastic food storage set is one of the latest innovations to come from Joseph Joseph. The lids all have an easy to use dial to set both the month and day the food is either placed into the container or needs to be used by. Genius. Food waste is one of my pet hates, but even I’ve forgotten the odd thing at the back of the fridge and have had to compost it. Just rotate the dial clockwise to set the month and anti-clockwise to set the day. There is one 2.4 litre container measuring 278 x 185 x 70 mm, two 1 litre containers measuring 185 x 139 x 70 cm and two 0.7 litre containers measuring 185 x 139 x 50 mm. I’m delighted to say I have a set to offer up as a giveaway. Just scroll down to the bottom of the post to find out how to enter.

The lids come in a rather fetching shade of olive green, but I expect I’m not the only one who’d like to see some other colours to choose from. Like red. The rectangular shape makes the containers easy to both store and stack in either the fridge, freezer or cupboard. The bases are suitable for the microwave, but not the lids. Both are suitable for the freezer and can be washed in the dishwasher. They can be bought individually or as a set of three or five. This five-piece set has an RRP of £45.

For my fennel salad, I adapted one of the recipes in my Riverford recipe box which we were rather taken with at the time. I’d never thought of making a salad out of a fennel bulb before and I was surprised at how good it was. Making the fennel salad is a simple process of finely chopping a fennel bulb, adding tomatoes, olives, herbs and a dressing. The original recipe used a squeeze of lemon juice, but I improvised with some of my elderflower vinegar which gave a light fresh floral quality as well as the usual tang. It keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days, but don’t add the salad leaves until you’re ready to serve it.

Fennel Salad

2016-04-03 16:55:46

Serves 4

A fresh and tasty fennel salad with tomatoes, olives and watercress that can be eaten on its own or to accompany any number of other dishes.

Joseph Joseph Dial Food Storage Container Giveaway

Joseph Joseph is kindly offering one Tin and Thyme reader a five-piece Dial food storage container set worth £45. To be in with a chance of winning, please fill in the Gleam widget below. You will need to leave a comment on this post, answering the question, which then gives you additional chances to enter if you so wish. Gleam will pick a winner at random from the entries received who will then be contacted via e-mail. If you are commenting anonymously, please give me some way of identifying you as I will be verifying the validity of entries. Any automated entries will be disqualified. This giveaway is only open to those with a UK postal address. Winners will need to respond within 5 days of being contacted. Failure to do this may result in another winner being picked. There are no cash alternatives.

Prizes are offered and provided by Joseph Joseph and Tin and Thyme accepts no responsibility for the acts or defaults of said third party. Tin and Thyme reserves the right to cancel or amend the giveaway and these terms and conditions without notice.

Closing date is Wednesday 4 May 2016

Do take a look at the Tin and Thyme giveaways page to see if there’s anything else you’d like to enter. You can also find other competitions at The Prize Finder.

340 Comments

Tracey Peach

5th April 2016 at 10:15 am

I brought a huge pack of bacon to split into smaller amounts to freeze. Unfortunately I never got around to splitting them up & when I looked at the use by date it had already gone! so what was going to be a money saving exercise turned out to be a money waster!

Freya Johnson

5th April 2016 at 10:46 am

I made lots of big meals and freezed portions to save time and money, but accidentally turned off the freezer and ruined them all, I felt like a right goon! It was a good attempt, but not well executed!

Anna Tuckett

5th April 2016 at 10:50 am

I hate waste, so I’m pretty good at using everything up. We have a dog, too, so any stale bread (v.little, as I make my own) is his treat:-) But I do occasionally have to throw away some veg, like a courgette. It doesn’t happen often, though.

Iris W

5th April 2016 at 11:16 am

I have to say I’m getting a lot better at not to waste to much food, I prefer going shopping regularly at my smaller local shop than doing a massive shop I have much less wastage like that. The biggest waste was a leg of lamb once, I bought it but for sunday lunch but something else came up and I forgot to put it in the freezer. It was still a couple of days in date when I opened it but the smell was absolutely awful. I didn’t know what to do with it as I couldn’t just put it in my wheely bin so I took it back to the shop for them to dispose of it, I wasn’t even that fussed about the money I just wanted to ged rid of it but they did refund as it was still in date. Did put me of it for a while though

olivia Kirby

5th April 2016 at 11:27 am

I thought it said worst taste story, glad I read other people’s comments!! They are when my teenager does cooking at school. He does it in the morning, the food isn’t stored properly, he then goes straight to his nan’s who doesn’t want it and keeps it for me but I don’t ever fancy risking it the next day! Last week he did a casserole with about £5 of ingredients in! We got it 3 days later and with doubts of how it had been kept so threw it away. Dreadful isn’t it really.

Lucy Pasifull

5th April 2016 at 12:12 pm

I was really good for ages, collected loads of containers and cooked double and froze the leftovers. Only problem was I labelled the containers with a marker that wasn’t waterproof and now I haven’t a clue what is what! Not such a disaster except hubby has a food allergy and I cannot risk giving him pot luck!

Suzanne Drummond

Judi

5th April 2016 at 2:22 pm

We bought a load of really nice fresh food in when dear MIL was going to be looking after the children (as agreed with her). We got back a few days later and it hadn’t been touched and was all out of date – when we mentioned it she said “oh I just treated them to takeaways”…..GRR

We worked out that you can use potato peelings to make crisps! We save peelings after potatoes have been peeled, pat them dry, spray with low cal cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake in the oven until crisp. They’re so good!

Lynsey Buchanan

5th April 2016 at 2:55 pm

I bought a Ham & Cheese sandwich from Tesco’s a few weeks ago and bit into it only to find it filled with mould. I did complain and get a refund plus £10 gift card but that did not stop the sick feeling all that day.

Paul Wilson

Bernie

5th April 2016 at 3:05 pm

I used to throw away a lot of food past it’s sell by date until I got made redundant, now I’m really careful and rarely throw anything away. To be honest it makes me feel embarrassed the amount I used to bin and will never get back to that again.

Louise Brown

5th April 2016 at 3:06 pm

We came back from the US one Christmas Eve to find the power had gone off and all the food in the freezer was wasted, including fillet steaks, salmon steaks, smoked salmon etc – there was a freezer full of food that had to be thrown away!

Liam Bishop

5th April 2016 at 3:13 pm

Every time we had bananas about to go off that weren’t eaten we would chop and freeze them, one day we realized we have a whole freezer drawer full of frozen bananas! Made a huge amount of banana ice cream and spent a week eating it!

Anthony Harrington

5th April 2016 at 3:17 pm

I have very little waste as I have got very good over the years of managing food/amounts/dates etc. however, I did have a saga a few years ago when my online groceries were delivered and contained 20 litres of milk which were all out of date! the store hadn’t charged me, but I rang them to see if they wanted to collect them, they said no to just throw it away, so it took a while opening and emptying all that lot down the sink!

kirsty l

5th April 2016 at 3:20 pm

i always cook double or triple the amount of food for my six month old and freeze them in little pots not only does it save on waste i have an easy and nutritious meal whenever i need it. Now my freezer is full of pots, just need to use them

Jo Young

5th April 2016 at 3:30 pm

I hardly throw any food away, buying what I need and using left over chicken in pasta bakes, sandwiches etc. But it really annoys me when hubby comes home with lots of food almost at it’s use by date which ends up getting wasted!

Israr Baig

Catherine Pawsey

5th April 2016 at 3:36 pm

When my son was 2 yrs old I bought him a lovely in the night garden birthday cake but he managed to sneak into the kitchen and lick all the icing off . Then nobody at the party wanted to eat what was left.

Danielle Spencer

Lorna Kennedy

5th April 2016 at 3:46 pm

Luckily I don’t have too many waste disasters as I try to be careful and use up all leftovers, but I have a bad habit of keeping things in the fridge, to freeze later, then forgetting to do it till it’s too late!

Heather T

5th April 2016 at 3:47 pm

A birthday weekend where we had takeaway, a meal out, a roast dinner and a massive box of cakes. Definitely a case of eyes being bigger than our bellies! No way could we eat it all and so much nice food was thrown away – I was gutted!

Marianne Daniels

5th April 2016 at 3:55 pm

Made my favourite Guatemalan dish, which needs special ingredients. The store didn’t have pork loin so we used pork steak (with fat). Rookie mistake–the soup was inedible and had a thick layer of fat! It made me so sad to tip it out!

Gilla01

5th April 2016 at 4:19 pm

The main things that seem to be wasted with me are mushrooms and salad greens. It’s fine in the summer when we want more salad, but I never think to add them to soups or stews in the winter until they’re well past it.

Haha, that sounds just like me. I used the sloes, after draining the gin, to make chocolate truffles. They were delicious, but it took me all day to cut the flesh off. I never repeated that particular experiment.

zainab hassan

Tracy Wells

5th April 2016 at 4:35 pm

The absolute worst was when I left a turkey to rest on the kitchen counter on Christmas day and forgot to monitor our opportunistic cat. Sure enough, when I went to check on it 20 minutes later she had made a sizeable dent in it, and no-one fancied the rest. Luckily our local Chinese takeaway stays open over Christmas!

Barbara Handley

kirsty hamilton

5th April 2016 at 5:28 pm

Full of good intentions as I absolutely hate food waste, I dutifully packed up the contents of my freezer when moving house. After hauling the box of food to the new house and up three flights of stairs I triumphantly set in down in the kitchen. Where it sat, defrosting, for the following week. It all had to be binned…

Ian Chester

julie feathers

Lydia

5th April 2016 at 6:29 pm

it’s so great to see a giveaway focused on food waste! as such a huge issue, especially here in the UK, it’s heartening to read comments about people’s growing awareness about the food we waste. i’m big into things like dumpster diving – sounds gross but u can find some amazing things! – and am part of a food sharing collective in edinburgh that matches up people who want to get rid of food with those looking to get some for free. great giveaway, thanks for the opportunity to win! xxx

emma walters

lyn Burgess

5th April 2016 at 7:17 pm

My daughter reached something out of the freezer but left the door open, and did not realize it for several hours. She closed the door but did not tell us about it till next day, by which time everything had re-frozen, so we couldn’t tell if anything would have been safe to eat and had to throw it all away.

Alice Fox

Helen Humphries

5th April 2016 at 7:25 pm

This week when I came to look for a new block of cheese in the fridge it was no where to be seen, had a horrible feeling, checked the shopping bags and found somehow it had got overlooked in the unpacking days before. Frustrating when I am so particular about not wasting food to score such a spectacular own goal!!

Kim M

Amanda

5th April 2016 at 7:46 pm

My best is roast chicken for Sunday lunch, then I use the chicken carcass to make a chicken stock by adding onion, carrots, leek and celery and simmer for a hour then use the stock to make a chicken casserole and a chicken soup which I have made today! Meals always taste so much nicer with a good homemade stock.

leanne weir

Lorraine Tinsley

5th April 2016 at 10:09 pm

My husband bought loads of meat at a local market, pork chops, beef steaks, chicken breasts, gammon steaks and put them in the freezer. We already had some lamb leg joints and a couple of chickens in there and my daughter turned off the freezer! It all defrosted so we cooked most of it and ate some and froze some of it, but had to chuck some, such a waste!

Amanda Tanner

Kristy Brown

5th April 2016 at 11:16 pm

Worst – when we lived in Germany our Freezer was in the cellar. After a nice big shop hubby put everything in the freezer – and didn’t close the door properly. Queue me going down 3 days later to find €500 of destroyed soggy food. We managed to scrape together the money to replace it…..only for him to bloody do it again!

Julie Booth

5th April 2016 at 11:22 pm

We never really have food waste issues as I use up leftovers very creatively, so tonight the salmon was supposed to be eaten by yesterday and the mushrooms 6 days ago, so I made a creamy mushroom and onion sauce to go over new potatoes and used up some celery, courgettes and green pepper- all chopped and stir fried and had that with the pan fried salmon. It was all very tasty!

Leanne Lunn

Lynne OConnor

6th April 2016 at 12:47 am

I’m pretty good at keeping waste under control, freezing anything we haven’t eaten etc. but last year I was away from home for a major op leaving hubby and 2 teenage boys to fend for themselves. You would not believe how much food I had to chuck out on my return.

Ruth Harwood

C Kennedy

6th April 2016 at 9:38 am

I don’t really have any disaster stories but I absolutely hate throwing away food – it’s such a waste! We literally freeze everything. Most of the time we’ll batch cook and then freeze, it cuts down on the washing up and doesn’t waste anything. If we do have to throw things away it’s usually just fruit or vegetables, although it still pains me!

Ray Dodds

Jamie Millard

6th April 2016 at 12:27 pm

potatoes are our big waste – swayed by the best before dates unfortunately. I’ll buy a bag of baby boiled, a bag of all rounders and sometimes a bag of baked potatoes. Never get through all of that but i like the variety.

sarah rees

ElizM

6th April 2016 at 3:35 pm

I’m always massively impressed by food chains such as Pret A Manger who instead of wasting what’s left on the shelves at the end of the day, offer it to homeless people. I would like to see more organisations doing that

Tracey Parker

Naz M

6th April 2016 at 7:56 pm

I never waste food, I always have leftovers left but I’ll freeze them or eat them the next day. I try and buy what I need and not and put the newer items at the backnof the fridge or cupboards, somI use the older food first.

Naz M

hannonle

6th April 2016 at 8:16 pm

I don’t have any major disasters or major successes, just a general ethos of trying not to waste anything or buy things I won’t use. The only regular casualty is cucumber which I buy for when my nephews visit, use some of it, and then forget about until it’s gone white and furry!

Today I cooked some under ripe plums that my sister gave me. She didn’t have time to deal with them and I have stewed fruit for pudding!

Louise Smith

Margaret Gallagher

6th April 2016 at 8:41 pm

I really do not waste anything I either freeze puree or make delicious soups and have my own compost heap -even grow my own fruit and veg so I can pickle and store I’m often tempted to buy special offers in supermarkets but I resist as I don’t like waste

Nat thomason

charlotte

7th April 2016 at 10:34 am

I am very good at making enough for lunch the following day, then leaving it in the fridge when I head to work 🙁 Either that or making SO much that I can’t face eating the same thing for the 5th time in a row.

Jo Carroll

7th April 2016 at 11:18 am

I’m always on the look out for great food saving tips and I came across a brilliant one recently. It said if you keep your bananas ‘bunched’ together ie. don’t seperate them in your fruit bowl and wrap a bit of cling film around the top stalk bit they keep twice as long and don’t go brown as quick. x

Natalie Crossan

Maxine G

8th April 2016 at 7:47 am

I often freeze leftover soups and sauces to make quick meals after work. However, I’d forgotten to label some of my tupperware and once defrosted what I thought was some leftover tomato sauce to make a quick lasagne with, only to find that it was a hot and very spicy curry … ugh … not a good combination!

Catriona Hutchinson

8th April 2016 at 9:34 am

I freeze EVERYTHING that can be frozen. I save cheese rinds for soup, same with any veg that I won’t have time to eat, I’ll blanch and freeze it. I’m thinking of starting a compost bin so that my trimmings won’t end out in landfill.

judy kennedy

8th April 2016 at 11:48 am

Made a minestrone for my visiting aunts transferred it to a pyrex dish to put it in the fridge. On the day they were due to visit I dropped the bowl. I managed to salvage most of it and hoped they didn’t notice the crunchy bits

When I was living in Thailand, I was so pleased that I’d managed to find some dried chickpeas (not easy to come by), so I thought I’d make some hummus. Soaked said chickpeas overnight, only to discover the next morning that because the aircon had broken down during the night, and the temperature had risen (a lot), the chickpeas had fermented. Had to bin them. I was so heartbroken!

Solange

8th April 2016 at 6:55 pm

I hate food wastage. If I have any leftover potatoes and/or veg, I don’t throw it out. Once cool, I cover and store in the fridge until the next day, where I then put it all together with some seasoning and make tasty bubble and squeak, or something similar depending on the ingredients.

Susan B

9th April 2016 at 5:30 am

I visit the supermarket after 7pm in the hope of finding fresh food marked down to 19p or 9p. Sometimes, there’s loads and I get carried away and buy far too much. The last bargain included two packs of fresh potato wedges at 9p each. I happened to put them at the back of the fridge and then forgot about them. By the time I remembered, they were 5 days past their best before date. Not wanting to waste them, I chucked them all in a baking dish with a bit of oil and baked them at a high temperature. Gosh, they were really awful! They had to go in the bin. What a waste.

Jo m welsh

9th April 2016 at 7:24 am

I do not to try and waste but our biggest waste is veg where I have used some but it’s perhaps too much for one sitting and then I forget about it another waste is yogurts and I forget to keep an eye on the date but if they are only a few days out hubby will eat them so not really too much of a waste

We really don’t waste any food. I plan what I need to buy and check what we already have before making my list. I serve modest portions – everyone can have another helping if they want one and if not the extra food is frozen for another day.

Samantha O'D

Amy Skinner

12th April 2016 at 12:15 pm

We really try our best to not throw food away and freeze where we can but we did have a packet of ham fall under our pull out drawer in the fridge, it was 4 weeks past its sell by date. That I was happy to throw away and glad it was still packaged.

lyndsey

Em hunt

12th April 2016 at 1:53 pm

I don’t know what it is with the men in my house but they never seem to cover food once opened. So, I continually find hard bits of cheese, meat, bacon etc and it just drives me crazy! Maybe with this system, even they can figure it out! Otherwise, they will keep being served said crispy bits

Zoey P

Nicola Lynch

13th April 2016 at 9:57 am

I’ve been a bit rubbish at food waste and i’m always annoyed at myself so I have started freezing meat in small portions and only defrosting when I know Im definitely going to use it up. Will freeze bacon too if it’s a short date and we’re not planning on using it quite yet. Also, I’ve recently started freezing chopped carrots, sweet potato, parsnip etc, uncooked, to prevent them going off. It’s great if you have enough small pots and room in your freezer.

Angie Hoggett

Sue Bielewicz

14th April 2016 at 12:34 pm

Wasted lots of food over the years and have now changed my shopping and cooking habits. We all get in at different times so buy expensive items when on offer and I bulk cook and prepare individual meals to refrigerate or freeze. Only buy enough salad to last a couple of days and any other veg gets souped up. Husband makes it more interesting by turning up with random ‘bargains’ which often have to be used straight away. Luckily none of us are that picky about what we eat as some of the combinations are quite imaginative.

Natalie Baskerville

Dawn Brodribb

14th April 2016 at 7:53 pm

I love the day I decided to take control of my waste. Now every Wednesday (my shopping day!) I Put all left over veg from the week into the slow cooker along with some stock – Not only do I stop wasting good food, but I come home to the lovely smell of stew cooking!

Keri Jones

15th April 2016 at 10:55 am

I bought a whole chicken to do a roast dinner on a Sunday. When I opened it it smelled awful, I checked the date and it was 3 days earlier! It was such a waste & my son was really upset as he was really looking forward to his roast chicken x

Stevie

Farhana

15th April 2016 at 4:14 pm

My worst was storing some chicken leftover and totally forgetting about it as it got shoved to the back somewhere. Found it when I was having my cleaning session and was horrified at what it had turned to. Disgusted for life

angela sandhu

16th April 2016 at 10:45 pm

I bought chicken last week and told my husband to cook it while i was at work. i came back to find he went to Asda and bought ready meals and the chicken ended up in the bin. It was such a waste and i was so angry!!

charlotte wilde

17th April 2016 at 12:09 pm

I bought a job lot of slightly soft strawberries last year and instead of carefully storing them until they go all grey and fluffy!! I managed to remember to puree them and store them in the freezer – I made loads and have since delightedly got the bags out to add to ice cream and also to juices as I try and get my kids to ‘eat’ more fruit! Donns smug face!

Julie Ward

17th April 2016 at 2:30 pm

Not many cock ups I try to freeze things as soon as bought, My son has a habit of rooting through the freezer and forgetting to put what he doesn’t want back in. Usually find it the next day. May have to put his board up

jayne hobson

Sandra Clarke

20th April 2016 at 10:33 am

My efforts at baking cakes have always turned out disastrous as I’m not a good cook – so they were always put out for the birds. However since my son was diagnosed as coeliac and I have had to do more baking, they come out brilliantly using the gluten free flour! I try and not waste anything so it’s very rare I throw away food.

Katie Harmer

20th April 2016 at 7:28 pm

Shamefully, I have made the effort and have cooked a bolognese or curry from scratch only to leave the leftovers in the fridge, which is about 2 more meals worth, for a week because I don’t fancy it. It goes off so I end up throwing it all away. I have done this many times! If I freeze it, I forget about it and don’t use it. I live by myself and sometimes I am too ill to stand and cook so I make enough to last for the next few days. Most of the time I use it, but several times it’s gone in the bin. Oh the shame!

Alison Johnson

21st April 2016 at 10:26 pm

We’re quite good at not wasting food in our house, we ‘batch’ cook & freeze just about everything! The only things we tend to waste is some bread (no room in freezer!) & sometimes tin which we buy when we fancy then find in the back of the cupboard several years out of date.

lucy higgins

22nd April 2016 at 8:30 pm

My worst would be when my freezer died and everything had to go in the bin. I always have quite a full freezer, often playing jenga with all the items to get it all in so you can imagine how much was wasted!

Zac Farley

23rd April 2016 at 11:31 am

A colleague of mine used to work for a well known supermarket chain and when food had one day left on sell by he was tasked with putting it in thr skip and pouring blue dye over it so it could not be used. What a disgrace that local charities and night shelters are not given these.

Kelly cooper

26th April 2016 at 8:47 pm

I had done my food shopping for the week and put away the food, went to get some meat out of the fridge to cook dinner and noticed I had put the whole bag of fresh meat in the cupboard. Had to throw the whole bag away .

Graeme Macmillan

Helen W

27th April 2016 at 6:22 pm

My worst food waste story was when I made chocolate cookies, but didn’t have enough sugar, and thought sweetener would do. Turns out it wasn’t a heat stable sweetener, they tasted awful, and they all went in the bin.

Christine Caple

Vicky Online

29th April 2016 at 7:07 pm

How to reach virtually zero food waste. Have 2 dogs, 6 hens, 2 guinea pigs and a wormery. If it isn’t appropriate to feed to one of them, then it was n’t fit for human consumption anyway – or it was chocolate in which case there not chance it would ever be waste!

Michelle Sykes

30th April 2016 at 2:31 pm

I hate any food waste. Having 4 children, a greedy dog, 3 cats and 12 chickens I can not remember the last time any food went to waste. I even bring scraps back from restaurants for the chickens as I hate the thought of it being binned – the chickens love it

Caroline Cordery

Nancy Raynsford

1st May 2016 at 8:43 pm

Only this week I bought a pack of 10 chicken breasts – got home – put 3 in the stew I was cooking – then went to put the rest away only to find 4 in a pack bought earlier and needing to be used that day 🙁

Logan

2nd May 2016 at 1:05 am

I know that in my home country – Belgium – and in France (also some parts of the UK) they still use bleach to prevent the homeless to steal the food supermarkets throw away. What a shame when we know that food banks and charities are around!

Katie Kingsbury

2nd May 2016 at 12:34 pm

I’m not sure I have one really, I’m pretty good at making food last by either freezing it or making stews/soups and only buying what we will use, meal planning helps. That said my husband bought some cheap bananas on Friday and they’re started to turn black yesterday. I didn’t want to bake with them because I’m counting calories – so he’s eaten 5 in the last 24 hours! 3 more to go.

carole n

Mary Baldwin

2nd May 2016 at 4:21 pm

I made a sausage casserole for a new boyfriend, but thought it looked a bit sparse. My bright idea was to add red cabbage – bad idea – it turned the sausages a sort of bluey-mauve and we just couldn’t face them. Chippy supper was nice though.

Michelle Ptak

2nd May 2016 at 4:39 pm

I would love them as with hungry boys I always try to make extra so I have leftovers for them to warm up when they are hungry (that seems to be all the time as they both play sports!) … very useful, thanks

Louise Lumsden

2nd May 2016 at 4:52 pm

I don’t waste a thing, I squirrel everything away into my freezer before it can go off, even small leftovers like a little cheese sauce left in the bottom of the pan goes into ice cube trays & into the freezer to use another time

I work during the week and am so tired when I get home I really cant be bothered to cook and for a while was living on takeaways and micro meals which is not only pretty bad for you its also stupidly expensive. I have this year started batch cooking on the weekend – making use of the slow cooker – I make 3 meals – a curry, a soup and a pasta sauce with whatever veg is on offer at the local supermarket. Anything thats about to turn or near its use by date generally gets thrown in. I find I waste a lot less food as I only buy for the meals I know I am going to be cooking whereas before I would go and buy all sorts with good intentions and then end up chucking it out as it went off

Sheri Darby

Hazel Rea

2nd May 2016 at 9:24 pm

I don’t usually waste food at all as I tend to cook from scratch so it’s easy to use things up. I did once have to throw out a loaf of glutenfree/milkfree bread I was experimenting with because I forgot to put in the baking soda to make it rise and I did, genuinely, end up with a brick!

Hannah G

Bryanna M

3rd May 2016 at 10:41 am

We struggle with condiments, so we have basically just stopped buying them. When I moved in with my partner I went through the cupboards to see what could be thrown away, and there were things with expiry dates dating back to 2006! 🙁

Andrew Hindley

3rd May 2016 at 11:15 am

My first job when I left school at age 15 was in a supermarket, I was working late and as the last of the staff was leaving he said don’t forget to switch the freezers off before I you go home – being a little bit naieve at the time I took him at his word, didn’t realise that he was only joking!

Emma Locker

3rd May 2016 at 11:44 am

I hate waste! My other half tends to try and buy food on the reduced section as he thinks it will save us money in the long run, yes it’s cheap(er) than what we would usually buy, but the amount of times I’ve had to throw it out as it’s run out of date – often untouched, it’s so fustrating!. I tend to meal plan for the week and only buy what we need, it’s much better in terms of wastage as there’s is little to none and I find it a lot cheaper too!. E x

Caroline J Robinson

3rd May 2016 at 11:48 am

Because I do a big weekly shop I buy everything under one roof knowing full well salad and fresh items have shorter use by dates but each week I end up buying them mainly so the fridge looks full but we open and use them once then end up throwing them away because the use by date has been and gone

Samantha

liz ferguson

3rd May 2016 at 7:24 pm

before leaving for a long weekend, I unplugged my freezer, to use the socket to hoover around. unfortunately, i didnt replug the freezer in. we returned home to a yucky mess of ruined food and soppy floors.

Mia Clarke

Nancy Bradford

3rd May 2016 at 8:10 pm

The compressor in our fridge/freezer went out a couple of years ago. Everything was pretty much ruined. It cost us about £200 to replace everything from scratch. You don’t realise how much money you have sitting in your freezer until something like that happens.

Linda

Emma Perry

3rd May 2016 at 8:52 pm

I’m always looking for a bargain when out shopping, so when I saw a whole Salmon in the reduced section in Asda for around £6 because it had that days date on it – I whipped my phone out and called my mum! Promptly asking her if she knew how to fillet a Salmon I grabbed it and bunged it in my trolley! Thank goodness for mums eh….when I got home mum and dad popped round and she filleted and de-boned the whole thing for me 🙂 We got 15 fillets out of it – now thats a bargain! It all went in the freezer in individual portions. I hate waste so this kind of thing I do all the time. xx

jessica cook

3rd May 2016 at 9:05 pm

I cooked a whole chicken once and left it in the microwave a while back, with a view to putting it in the fridge in an hour and totally forgot and it was still there in the morning. Such a horrible waste

Gillian York

Hayley Colburn

3rd May 2016 at 10:51 pm

I made loads of curries for a party and made far too much, especially as everyone had bloated themselves with beers, the amount I had to throw away purely because I had nothing to freeze it in was disgusting

ang pickering

Christine Hobbs

4th May 2016 at 8:18 am

I have 3 foxes that come into the garden daily so food waste in our house does not exist. They have a bowl that I add any leftovers to and there is never anything left the next day. I often find random things brought to the garden too the other day I discovered a barbie and a soft ball found from a neighbours garden presumably.

Lindsay Davies

4th May 2016 at 8:18 am

I hate throwing food away and try my best to use everything by using up leftovers the next day and sometimes take food into work for lunch.. (From my left overs) but my boyfriend usually finish off my plates

Laura Whittle

4th May 2016 at 10:08 am

I always look at how long jars should be kept for and then work out the date once they’re opened and write it on. It then makes it easy when I open my fridge to see what open jars are nearing their end and think of something I can make with them that week. I have a half jar of horseradish going this week so have taken some mackrel fillets out of the freezer (bought when reduced at supermarket) and am going to make some pate. Also going to have horseradish mash next Sunday roast. Nothing goes to waste in my house!

Tricia Cowell

4th May 2016 at 10:13 am

Oh Christmas Day many years ago…I cooked the turkey and left it to cool on kitchen side. Big mistake when you have a dog like mine. Needless to say the dog was full of our turkey and we had ham slices with all the trimmings

Elizabeth Gurney

4th May 2016 at 10:39 am

My nan always makes too much at sunday roast for us, so we always take the leftover bits home (especially any meat) and have created lots of new dishes with it. My favourite being reusing some roast lamb in a Moroccan inspired tagine

Dale Dow

4th May 2016 at 12:03 pm

we never buy a weekly shop, it’s difficult with an aspergers child as he goes through phases of what he wants to eat and then suddenly changes it at a drop of a hat and onto a new phase, for instance, once all he would eat was turkey dinosaurs, another time pizza… He then decides if the food is edible, if there is a dark part or over cooked he refuses to eat, before when I got weekly shops, most food was wasted, now we still waste but thankfully not as much!

Michelle Wild

Chantelle79

4th May 2016 at 12:16 pm

I once made a stew in my slow cooker, I fancied some kidneys in it. I didn’t realise how strong they were. I put two in my stew and it ruined it. The whole smelt awful. Never cooked with them ever again!!

nichola betteridge

4th May 2016 at 12:23 pm

I always freeze any left over veg, no matter how little, then when i have a good amount i make bubble and squeak 😀 hubby thought i was mad at first freezing one sprout lol! I also always freeze bread crusts as otherwise they get left to go mouldy…then when i need breadcrumbs i just smash the hell out of the frozen crusts with my rolling pin, perfect breadcrumbs every time!

Pauline Dring

sandy ralph

4th May 2016 at 3:16 pm

It has to be when our freezer broke down and we hadn’t noticed that had stopped working as we were away over the weekend and came home to a soggy floor in the kitchen and everything defrosted in the freezer, thankfully we saved some meat by cooking it up but most of the food we had to throw away

Tishist

cat

4th May 2016 at 6:46 pm

Boughty a rib joint of beef for a family meal cost me £40 , went to pull it out the fridge on the morning 2 days later not there, had accidently left it in the boot of my hot car on the drive, had wrapped it in the blanket to keep it cool and hence didn’t spot it when I unloaded the car. Argh… very hot on the turn meat in my bot, not fit to eat…

Claire Davey

Beryl drake

4th May 2016 at 7:43 pm

The best food experiences ive had are when we go to a local hotel for the Sunday carvery , succulent beef , yummy gravy , a great selection of veg , huge home cooked Yorkshires crispy roast potatoes and all eaten over looking the most wonderful views you could imagine

Nicki Simpson

4th May 2016 at 8:00 pm

I once spent a fortune on ingredients for a luxurious white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake but I wanted it to be more fruitful so I included lots more raspberry than the recipe stated…..unfortunately the cheesecake wouldn’t set due to the liquidised extra fruit and the whole glorious mess was wasted

Fiona jk42

4th May 2016 at 8:02 pm

A few years ago we had a male au pair. One warm summer’s day, I went to get into our car, only to be met with the most awful foul smell when I opened the door. It was so bad it made me gag. It turned out that some days previously the au pair had gone to the supermarket and bought sausages & some other things, then forgotten about them when he went to pick the kids up. After several days festering in a hot car, those sausages were really humming! I had to disinfect the car and drive with the windows open for weeks afterwards.

joanne davenport

4th May 2016 at 8:03 pm

my wasted food story was I left our streaky bacon for Christmas dinner a huge pile of it on a plate on the work top instead of in a tub like you should …..we nipped to my mums came back to a very sheepish looking cat what was left on the plate bared a resemblance to a dead squid all I heard off the hubby all day was ……’ well you shouldn’t leave food lying around’ ….lesson learnt xx

Tamsin Dean

4th May 2016 at 8:11 pm

my partner loves condiments and I have to be strict with he/them as when he moved in with me some of his condiments were like 5 years out of date and wondered why I was binning them, he try to isist they were edible, but they were lumps of stone

Karen Harrison

Victoria Prince

4th May 2016 at 9:18 pm

I think one of my best food waste stories was when I ended up with a ridiculous number of ham sandwiches from a buffet that had started to dry up, you couldn’t eat them as ham sandwiches any more (nor would you want to…) – so I made them into a savoury bread and butter pudding!

Susan Carruthers

4th May 2016 at 9:57 pm

We have a freezer in the garage for the food that won’t fit in the small indoor freezer. Unknown to me the electricity in the garage tripped and the next time I went to get something I was met with a soggy freezer and defrosted food which all had to be thrown out.

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Hello, I’m Choclette. I’m a vegetarian whole food recipe developer. I have a sweet tooth and a passion for baking and chocolate. Welcome to my award winning blog. Here you will find nourishing home cooked food with a twist as well as wholesome foodie tales.